Therefore they were in a fair way to die of hunger, for here if fish
existed, they refused to be caught and nought remained for them to fill
themselves with except water slugs, and snails which the boatmen were
already gathering and crunching up in their great teeth. Or, perhaps
the Ogula, forgetting friendship under the pressure of necessity, would
murder them as they slept and--revert to their usual diet.
Jeekie was right, he should have remembered the "uncontrollable forces
of Nature." Only a madman would have undertaken such an expedition in
the rains. No wonder that the Asiki remained a secret and hidden people
when their frontier was protected by such a marsh as this upon the one
side and, as he understood, by impassable mountains upon the other.
There came a lull in the tempest and the boatmen began to get the better
of the water, which now was up to their knees. Alan asked Jeekie if he
thought it was over, but that worthy shook his white head mournfully,
causing the spray to fly as from a twirling mop, and replied:
"Can't say, cats and dogs not tumble so many for present, only pups and
kitties left, so to speak, but think there plenty more up there," and he
nodded at the portentous fire-laced cloud which seemed to be spreading
over them, its black edges visible even through the gloom.
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